Peggy Lee Seeking Watch She Sold For Train Ticket

NAMES & FACES

Singer Peggy Lee sold her high school graduation watch for a train ticket to stardom more than 50 years ago.

Now she wants the watch back.

In her 1989 autobiography, Miss Peggy Lee, Lee wrote that she sold the watch for $30 and had only $18 left by the time she arrived in California.

From there, she went to Chicago, where she was hired by Benny Goodman and recorded ''Why Don't You Do Right?'' The song launched her musical career.

Merv Griffin is trying to find the 1940 Elgin watch for a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Lee's first hit. A public relations firm has placed an ad in a Fargo, N.D., newspaper on Lee's behalf, seeking information about the watch.